The Witness Tree By Denise Weimer

The Witness Tree is Denise Weimer’s newest historical romance set in the early 19th century. John Kliest and Clarissa Vogler are Moravians living in Salem, North Carolina. In their community, a man seeking a wife goes to the elders when he’s ready to get married. He mentions a potential woman and consults the lot.

John needs a wife before he can become a missionary to the Cherokee. Clarissa has dreams of going to Philadelphia to study painting. She hopes to marry John’s brother Daniel and travel with him to Philadelphia, but the lot changes everything. When she travels with him to Cherokee territory, they have to adapt not only to a new environment but also to their new marriage.

My Thoughts

I love the marriage of convenience trope, but this is a twist I’ve never encountered before. The Moravians believed that God’s will was revealed by the lot, so the characters enter the marriage believing it’s God’s will. But that doesn’t make the marriage easy. From the beginning, the couple faces trials, and I love the way Weimer handles this.

Not only are the ups and downs of marriage explored, but also the difficulties missionaries face. Weimer provides characters to show that missionaries aren’t perfect, and even the main characters have flaws. But she also doesn’t idealize the lives of missionaries.

And the research! You can tell Weimer put a lot of time into this. I had never heard of the Moravians. Weimer packs so much detail into the novel, I left with a better understanding of a sect I would never have known about if it wasn’t for her.

If you love reading frontier stories or are an avid fan of the marriage of convenience trope, I highly recommend The Witness Tree. You can click the book cover to order it from Amazon or check out your local bookstore.

More Information

Denise Weimer also recently released Fall Flip, a contemporary romance that is perfect for fans of HGTV and Hallmark. She also has two contemporary romances releasing in 2020. You can check out her website for more information.

And if you love the marriage of convenience trope as much as I do, check out my post Just Read: Romancing the Bride by Melissa Jagears for a review of another great historical romance.